CIEE spring abroad in Costa Rica leads to summer abroad in the Galápagos!

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Sustainability + the Environment

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College Study Abroad

Thanks to a spring semester abroad studying sustainability with CIEE in Costa Rica, George Washington University student Guy Ginsberg will be spending part of summer ’19 exploring the legendary ecosystems of the Galápagos Islands!

As part of Ginsberg’s CIEE coursework on “Internships in Conservation and Sustainability,” he worked for the Costa Rican organization – CORCLIMA – which is striving to help the country become carbon neutral by 2025. While much of Costa Rica’s electrical grid runs solely on renewable energy, transportation emission still accounts for 44% of the country’s carbon emissions. CORCLIMA is promoting the use of electric vehicles and is planning to install eight charging stations on every route leading to Monteverde and its Cloud Forest Reserve, which attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year.

Ginsberg created a podcast about his work with CORCLIMA entitled, How Electric Vehicles are Making Costa Rica More Resilient, and entered it into the Planet Forward Storyfest 19, sponsored by The Center for Innovative Media at George Washington University. Planet Forward recognizes college students for their environmental storytelling and holds an annual nationwide contest for student entries.

Ginsberg and five additional students were selected winners and will travel with Planet Forward for an expedition to the Galápagos Islands this August and report on the archipelago’s varied islands and habitats.

Sustainability + the Environment is just one of CIEE’s 90+ spring semester programs that combines high-quality academics with hands-on learning and cultural immersion in countries around the world. Sustainability + the Environment allows students to live and learn in one of the world’s greenest countries, with a decades-old sustainability movement that has attracted scientists from around the globe.